A major-league scout takes us through his process at a New Orleans Zephyrs game

It didn’t take the scout long to spot a nuance in the delivery of Oklahoma City RedHawks left-hander Brett Oberholtzer. Before Oberholtzer let go of the ball when throwing a pitch in the second inning in a recent game against the New Orleans Zephyrs, the scout was expecting to see a curveball.

“He slows his delivery down,” said the scout, who was watching from a seat behind the plate at Zephyr Field. “You can pick up the breaking ball when he slows his delivery down. It’s not quite the same delivery he has on his fastball.”

The Zephyrs’ Donnie Murphy hit Oberholtzer’s next curveball for a hard double to left.

Henceforth, the scout will be identified as Scout. He agreed to be accompanied to a game under the condition that his name and big-league organization not be revealed.

Scout is a veteran at breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of players and judging their potential. Though the prime goal of scouting is finding legitimate big-league prospects, there’s more to it.

“It helps to build your data base for next year’s Triple-A team,” said Scout, whose duties this season take him to Double-A, Triple-A and major-league games. “Who’s on the rise? Who’s on the decline? Who can be an emergency guy? It’s more easy to get fooled at the amateur level. The hardest thing to judge is what kind of desire they have.”

Scout said he might see a particular team play 10 games in a season. Because a player can go through stretches of unusual success or failure, a scout has to wary of forming the wrong impression.

“If you’re in at the wrong time, it can really make a difference,” Scout said. “A month ago, Wade LeBlanc was different from a week ago. He made some adjustments.”

On June 10, LeBlanc, a left-handed pitcher, was knocked out in the fourth inning in a start for the Zephyrs. He was effective in his next three starts, and the Marlins called him up as a reliever. In his first three appearances for Miami, he pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings.

For each position player, Scout assigns grades on five tools — throwing arm, fielding ability, speed, hitting ability and power. The scale is 20 to 80; 50 is average.

“The two things that you wait on the longest are power and speed,” Scout said.

Zephyrs outfielder Kevin Mattison is an 80 runner, he said. “People will keep giving him opportunities,” he said. Oklahoma City first baseman Mike Hessman, because of exceptional power, has had opportunities in the majors and might get more, Scout said. At age 34, Hessman leads the PCL in homers at 27 through Saturday.

Work starts before the game

At least eight scouts attended the recent Zephyrs-Oklahoma City series. Because it was five games, scouts had a chance to see all five starting pitchers for both teams. After a four-game series, the norm in the PCL, Scout said he’ll stick with a team for which he’s responsible until he has seen its entire rotation.

Another attractive aspect of the series to scouts, Scout said, was that Oklahoma City is an affiliate of the Houston Astros, a rebuilding team known to be open to trading veteran players to playoff contenders to acquire prospects. Because trades involving the Astros might include minor-leaguers in their system, scouts need to size up Oklahoma City players as possible pieces in deals.

Players are aware of scouts.

For their benefit, Zephyrs catcher Luke Montz said with a smile that he wrote his number, 30, on the back of the T-shirt he wears during batting practice. “There were lots of scouts in Omaha during b.p.,” Montz said. “I wanted them to know who I was.”

As the Redhawks took batting practice before this game, scouts were watching and taking notes from behind first base.

Scout said that during batting practice, he watches for “power, bat speed, rhythm, the path to the ball.” He said he notes whether a player has a long swing or a short swing, and how the player loads — gets in position to unleash a swing.

During batting practice, scouts can learn about players’ throwing ability, Scout said. Years ago, teams took infield practice before games, and arms were on display. Nowadays, infield practice is rare, and players work on fielding during batting practice. Scouts pay attention.

“You watch arms any chance you can, because you never know when you’re going to see them,” Scout said.

In a game, for example, the shortstop might be required only to make flips to bases — soft throws that don’t reveal arm strength, Scout said.

Taking diligent notes

As game time neared, Scout mounted a radar gun on the back of the seat in front of him. He held a stop watch in his left hand and a pencil in his right. On his knee was a clipboard with forms for writing notes on position players and pitchers.

When the Zephyrs’ Tom Koehler threw the first pitch, a 91 mph fastball, Scout put a mark next to “91” in the fastball column on a pitcher’s form. At the bottom of the form were ranges of velocities for five types of pitches — fastball, slider, curveball, change-up and other. Later, Scout is able to determine average velocity and range for every type of pitch in each hurler’s repertoire.

For each pitcher, Scout was interested in more than velocity. He was noting many other aspects of pitching, such as fastball command, movement, overall control, arm angle, arm action, balance, competitiveness, aggressiveness, poise, feel for pitching and instincts.

Early in the game, he said of Koehler: “This guy, you’re looking at the angle of the ball. It’s all downhill, so far. I’d write that. That’s important.”

Scout said he prefers movement over velocity. “The biggest key is, does it miss bats on not miss bats?” he said.

Oberholtzer wasn’t missing bats. In four innings, he allowed 12 hits, including five homers. “Everything’s up, not much movement,” Scout said. After Oberholtzer was out of the game, Scout said: “At 23, he still has time to develop his stuff.”

Not just one look

The form for position players has space for grading each tool and space for remarks. Grades are based on impressions formed over time.

Before outfielder Justin Maxwell, an Astros player who was with Oklahoma City on a rehab assignment, struck out on a curveball in the second inning, Scout said: “I’ve seen a lot of this guy in the big leagues this year. He’s got a lot of tools. He’s got to hit a little more consistently.”

In the third inning, Maxwell made a nice, running catch of a drive to deep right center. “I’ve seen him do that a bunch in the big leagues,” Scout said. “He can do that.” After Maxell flied out in the next inning, Scout said: “He got fooled on the off-speed, but he was able to keep his hands back. He’s made improvement.”

Scout used the stopwatch to time players running to first base, how it long it took pitches to reach the plate after the pitcher’s front foot hit the ground and how long it took the catcher to get the ball to second base. Data and remarks go to the big-league team in his report, which he said he files by computer after a series.

Here’s a sampling of remarks he made about players who appeared in the series: “Baseball instincts needs to improve. Quick bat. Hits from both sides.” … “Has a long swing. That’s why he hasn’t been able to catch up to the fastball on the major-league level.” … “Great speed. Doesn’t know how to use it to impact the game.”

And on to the next one

Late in the game, right-handed reliever Evan Reed, who joined the Zephyrs from Double-A in late June, made a favorable first impression on Scout. After Reed threw a few pitches, Scout pointed out that Reed’s arm speed was faster than the previous pitcher’s. Scout noted the movement on a 92 mph fastball missed by a batter. After a left-handed batter flied out, Scout said Reed has “arm-side run,” meaning that his fastball runs away from left-handed hitters.

“Reed’s got a chance,” Scout said. “A lot of movement. That’s the first time I saw him.”

His next look at Reed won’t be for a while. Scout was scheduled to travel to Atlanta to watch big-leaguers after the All-Star break before heading to Pensacola to see Double-A players.